id like to play a Chaotic evil pc, but i am drawing a blank on how to make them, i want someone proficient in martial weapons. Preferably whip and Great sword. i want them to be a person who lived or lives in isolation and solidarity. Any Ideas on a base Class/BG to go with?
It's not like it's impossible to do, but a player using the Chaotic Evil alignment causes all sorts of problems within the group. Your fellow players need to be able to trust that your character's nature won't ruin the game. Please make this character Chaotic Neutral or True Neutral instead, the isolation idea still works with these alignments.
The classes that are the most likely to be isolated are Barbarian and Druid. Both of these classes have built in reasons to be alone, their livelyhood is the wilderness. Pretty much any class you could make an acceptable reason that they're alone. A Bard that's less of an entertainer and more of a misanthropic wanderer. A Cleric of a obscure and secretive deity. A Fighter that is searching for an ancient weapon in ruins far from civilization. A Monk living a lonely ascetic life. A disgraced Paladin that travels the emptiness of the world now that they have lost their purpose. A Sorcerer who's power is feared. A Warlock that must hide themself, lest anyone find out what abomination they work for. A Wizard more concerned with study then people, that separated themselves from society.
Ive done my research on how to play "chaotic evil" without harming the setting of a campaign or blatantly attacking other players while also not diverting too far from the character itself. but i do appreciate the advice and concern.
So basically, you want to play Joker, and you think that you can do it in a way that won't harm the setting? Sorry, that is nonsensical. The only way evil PCs work in a game is if everyone playing from DM to all the other Players accepts that not only will there be morally grey areas but pitch black ones in this game. Because of your agency with your character there is no way for the DM to honestly reassure themselves or the other players that this will all work out in the end: you are playing the Joker for crying out loud!
Looking at the semiotic square, a chaotic evil character can really only be one corner in my analysis: the Anti-hero. Not that all anti-heroes are CE, but that is the only choice for a CE to be if they are to be remotely protagonistic in a storyline. An anti-hero lacks, and actively refuses to have motivations to challenge the central tension. If they do sign on, it is on their terms and very temporarily. Which means that the game starts to descend into "How can we keep HouzoS's evil PC with us even though it is likely more trouble than it is worth?"
That is on top of all the wangrod things that evil characters do, because well, they are evil.
If you are going chaotic evil I would suggest not going with divine/religion related classes (paladin, cleric, maybe monk) as that could over time cause tensions in the party if the divine in question starts asking for favors or your religious principles force you to do something. Something like a warlock (pact of the blade for greatsword/whip?) or a druid (the new Wildfire one could work well with a chaotic character) could probably work as long as their goals are very general and far removed from anything immediately important to the party (for example: "I wanna bring back some ancient god, but no hurry guys"). A barbarian or fighter could also work very well as long as something is tethering them to the party. Wizard/Sorcerer/Bard would probably be bad ideas because you would have access to a bunch of domination spells and if you start fighting with the party it could become problematic
When it comes to backgrounds anything could work realistically (Hermit: "they found some ancient secret - could be the existence of the ancient god I mentioned in the other example or something like that" - Outlander "this is just how we used to live" and so on), but I highly recommend connecting the character to the party in some way, not just as a "haha I'm gonna use them for my nefarious plans", but an actual deep bond of friendship with one, if not all of them. A chaotic evil character needs something that can keep them connected to the group, like a strong friendship, that can save the party from falling apart during heated moments.
As per ROLEPLAYING a non-disruptive Chaotic Evil character, I say, go for it! Just understand the while Chaotic evil can be Kurgan the Destroyer, as a player... maybe not. I have a few suggestions:
Firstly, remember that obvious evil in a good society is often dead and seldom successful. You could say the same about obvious good in an evil society. Evil, as a PC alignment, should be subtle and sneaky. In a way, you should behave more good than the good guys-- give them no reason not to do what you have to say or kick you out of the party. Give money to the poor, help people and do all the things that the righteous do. But don't do it for the reasons the righteous do. You do these things because they aid you on your quest for power. The obsfucate your true intention and undermine the moral highground that good stands upon. After all, if someone who is objectively evil benefits society and people more than good, then who is truly the positive force in the universe? Who truly should be emulated and who truly deserves admiration and respect?
As for chaotic evil, I think you could play it like this: Chaotic could mean an unwavering belief in personal freedoms and evil can mean a sort of individualism. Or in other words: this is a person who is on a quest of personal perfection. They believe in genius and think that those who lack these qualities don't register as "human". They only respect truly strength, but are willing to work with any number of "non-persons" as means to their end. You might take a book out of the Demon Lords and have the character think that they are the supreme being in all of the multiverse and no-oneelse has their talent or ability and so no-one else is truly a person. Their ultimate goal isn't truly power. Power is just a currency we use to buy freedom. Their ultimate goal is to have nothing constraining their will and guarentee that by forcing their will on the multiverse. To do that, they must bide their time and work with creatures (read: other people) who do not share their destiny. Because this is one fruit that must not be picked before it is ripe.
That's not the only way you can play the character, but that's how I would. You can play that as any sort of class or background. It could be a noble wizard or a folk hero bard or a criminal fighter or a sage rogue. It doesn't matter. A noble who developed a superiority complex could use this personality just as much as a survivor who had to fight every inch of the way to get to where he is. Our characters are not their class and race, those only provide variations on the theme.
id like to play a Chaotic evil pc, but i am drawing a blank on how to make them, i want someone proficient in martial weapons. Preferably whip and Great sword. i want them to be a person who lived or lives in isolation and solidarity. Any Ideas on a base Class/BG to go with?
My Spells, My Races, My Magic Items, My Monsters, My Subclasses,
Before I continue, please don't.
It's not like it's impossible to do, but a player using the Chaotic Evil alignment causes all sorts of problems within the group. Your fellow players need to be able to trust that your character's nature won't ruin the game. Please make this character Chaotic Neutral or True Neutral instead, the isolation idea still works with these alignments.
The classes that are the most likely to be isolated are Barbarian and Druid. Both of these classes have built in reasons to be alone, their livelyhood is the wilderness. Pretty much any class you could make an acceptable reason that they're alone. A Bard that's less of an entertainer and more of a misanthropic wanderer. A Cleric of a obscure and secretive deity. A Fighter that is searching for an ancient weapon in ruins far from civilization. A Monk living a lonely ascetic life. A disgraced Paladin that travels the emptiness of the world now that they have lost their purpose. A Sorcerer who's power is feared. A Warlock that must hide themself, lest anyone find out what abomination they work for. A Wizard more concerned with study then people, that separated themselves from society.
Ive done my research on how to play "chaotic evil" without harming the setting of a campaign or blatantly attacking other players while also not diverting too far from the character itself. but i do appreciate the advice and concern.
My Spells, My Races, My Magic Items, My Monsters, My Subclasses,
So basically, you want to play Joker, and you think that you can do it in a way that won't harm the setting? Sorry, that is nonsensical. The only way evil PCs work in a game is if everyone playing from DM to all the other Players accepts that not only will there be morally grey areas but pitch black ones in this game. Because of your agency with your character there is no way for the DM to honestly reassure themselves or the other players that this will all work out in the end: you are playing the Joker for crying out loud!
Looking at the semiotic square, a chaotic evil character can really only be one corner in my analysis: the Anti-hero. Not that all anti-heroes are CE, but that is the only choice for a CE to be if they are to be remotely protagonistic in a storyline. An anti-hero lacks, and actively refuses to have motivations to challenge the central tension. If they do sign on, it is on their terms and very temporarily. Which means that the game starts to descend into "How can we keep HouzoS's evil PC with us even though it is likely more trouble than it is worth?"
That is on top of all the wangrod things that evil characters do, because well, they are evil.
If you are going chaotic evil I would suggest not going with divine/religion related classes (paladin, cleric, maybe monk) as that could over time cause tensions in the party if the divine in question starts asking for favors or your religious principles force you to do something.
Something like a warlock (pact of the blade for greatsword/whip?) or a druid (the new Wildfire one could work well with a chaotic character) could probably work as long as their goals are very general and far removed from anything immediately important to the party (for example: "I wanna bring back some ancient god, but no hurry guys"). A barbarian or fighter could also work very well as long as something is tethering them to the party.
Wizard/Sorcerer/Bard would probably be bad ideas because you would have access to a bunch of domination spells and if you start fighting with the party it could become problematic
When it comes to backgrounds anything could work realistically (Hermit: "they found some ancient secret - could be the existence of the ancient god I mentioned in the other example or something like that" - Outlander "this is just how we used to live" and so on), but I highly recommend connecting the character to the party in some way, not just as a "haha I'm gonna use them for my nefarious plans", but an actual deep bond of friendship with one, if not all of them.
A chaotic evil character needs something that can keep them connected to the group, like a strong friendship, that can save the party from falling apart during heated moments.
Oath breaker paladin can make a good evil character and fits what you're looking for.
As per class, you can really go with anything.
As per ROLEPLAYING a non-disruptive Chaotic Evil character, I say, go for it! Just understand the while Chaotic evil can be Kurgan the Destroyer, as a player... maybe not. I have a few suggestions:
Firstly, remember that obvious evil in a good society is often dead and seldom successful. You could say the same about obvious good in an evil society. Evil, as a PC alignment, should be subtle and sneaky. In a way, you should behave more good than the good guys-- give them no reason not to do what you have to say or kick you out of the party. Give money to the poor, help people and do all the things that the righteous do. But don't do it for the reasons the righteous do. You do these things because they aid you on your quest for power. The obsfucate your true intention and undermine the moral highground that good stands upon. After all, if someone who is objectively evil benefits society and people more than good, then who is truly the positive force in the universe? Who truly should be emulated and who truly deserves admiration and respect?
As for chaotic evil, I think you could play it like this: Chaotic could mean an unwavering belief in personal freedoms and evil can mean a sort of individualism. Or in other words: this is a person who is on a quest of personal perfection. They believe in genius and think that those who lack these qualities don't register as "human". They only respect truly strength, but are willing to work with any number of "non-persons" as means to their end. You might take a book out of the Demon Lords and have the character think that they are the supreme being in all of the multiverse and no-one else has their talent or ability and so no-one else is truly a person. Their ultimate goal isn't truly power. Power is just a currency we use to buy freedom. Their ultimate goal is to have nothing constraining their will and guarentee that by forcing their will on the multiverse. To do that, they must bide their time and work with creatures (read: other people) who do not share their destiny. Because this is one fruit that must not be picked before it is ripe.
That's not the only way you can play the character, but that's how I would. You can play that as any sort of class or background. It could be a noble wizard or a folk hero bard or a criminal fighter or a sage rogue. It doesn't matter. A noble who developed a superiority complex could use this personality just as much as a survivor who had to fight every inch of the way to get to where he is. Our characters are not their class and race, those only provide variations on the theme.
Great advice! Thank you